Air duct structure for vehicle

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is an air duct structure for a vehicle. The air duct structure comprises an air conditioning unit to condition air supplied from an outside to a preset temperature and to supply the conditioned air to an interior of the vehicle through connection holes, an integral side duct assembly comprising a suction part tightly installed to the connection holes of the air conditioning unit and left and right side ducts integrally formed with left and right sides of the suction part, and a central duct tightly installed to an upper side of the suction part to supply the air to a central region of the interior of the vehicle. With this structure, the number of components constituting the air duct structure is minimized, reducing the number of fastening operations while enhancing productivity. In addition, this structure prevents air leakage between the components.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an air duct structure for a vehicle, and, more particularly, to an air duct structure for a vehicle, which comprises an integral duct molded as a single component by integrating side ducts at left and right sides of the air duct structure connected to an air conditioning unit, and a central duct mounted to an upper side of the integral duct, thereby reducing the number of components compared with a conventional air duct structure.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, an air duct for a vehicle refers to a connection pipe which is coupled to an upper side of an air conditioning unit supplying hot or cold air to the interior of the vehicle, and serves to guide the air into the vehicle through air vents installed thereto.

A conventional air duct structure of a vehicle will hereinafter be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

An air duct 1 is positioned on an upper side of an air conditioning unit 9 which is operated as a heater or cooler according to operation of a user.

The air duct 1 comprises side ducts 3 to supply air to right and left sides of the interior of the vehicle, and a central duct 5 to supply air to a central region thereof

After passing through an air conditioning unit via the air duct 1, the air is supplied to the interior of the vehicle through air vents 7.

The air duct 1 is formed by blow molding such that the side ducts 3 and the central duct 5 are integrated. However, when both air vents 11 of the central duct 5 are formed such that an audio unit is positioned between the air vents 11, a contact portion 15 between the central duct 5 and each side duct 3 is formed due to a relatively narrow space between the air vents 11. As a result, there is a problem in that, when the side ducts 3 and the central duct 5 of the air duct 1 are formed into a single component by blow molding, an undercut is created, which causes difficulty in ejection of the molded component.

In order to solve the problem as described above, the side ducts 3 and the central duct 5 are formed as separate components as shown in FIG. 2, instead of integrally forming the side ducts 3 and the central duct 5.

However, in this case, since it is necessary to assemble the separate side ducts 3 and central duct 5 into the air duct 1 using bolts and nuts. the number of bolt fastening portions 13 is increased compared with the integral component thereby increasing the number of fastening operations.

In addition, the right and left side ducts 3, and the central duct 5 suffer from dimensional inaccuracy due to characteristics of the blow molding, increasing tolerances of the components, and the separate side ducts 3 and the central duct 5 are assembled to each other using rivets and screws, increasing tolerances in assembly.

Therefore, the conventional air duct 1 suffers from leakage of air at stepped-portions formed where the air vents 7 are fitted to the air duct 1 of the vehicle and where the air duct 1 is coupled to a vent of the air conditioning unit 9. In addition, since the conventional air duct 1 requires an increased number of components, the number of molds and fastening operations thereof is increased correspondingly, causing an increase of manufacturing costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an air duct structure for a vehicle, which is constituted by a small number of components, thereby solving the problem of an increase in manufacturing costs due to a large number of molds and fastening operations required for a number of separate components of a conventional air duct structure, while solving the problem of air leakage from gaps between the components, which are created when coupling the conventional air duct structure comprising two separate side ducts and a single central duct to an air conditioning unit.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of an air duct structure for a vehicle, comprising: an air conditioning unit to condition air supplied from an outside to a preset temperature and to supply the conditioned air to an interior of the vehicle through connection holes; an integral side duct assembly comprising a suction part tightly installed to the connection holes of the air conditioning unit, and left and right side ducts integrally formed with left and right sides of the suction part; and a central duct tightly installed to an upper side of the suction part to supply the air to a central region of the interior of the vehicle.

Preferably, the connection holes are partitioned into side connection holes to supply the air to the left and right side ducts, respectively, and a central connection hole to supply the air to the central duct.

Preferably, the suction part is partitioned into side suction ports connected with the left and right side ducts, respectively, and a central suction port perforated between the side suction ports.

Preferably, the suction part has a sealing member mounted thereon where the suction part is connected with the central duct, the sealing member being made of a resilient material.

Preferably, the suction part comprises a rectangular frame, and a partition bar positioned inside the frame to traverse a central region of the frame such that two central suction ports are formed with respect to the partition bar in the suction part.

Preferably, the partition bar has a mounting protrusion formed upwardly therefrom such that the central duct is fixed to the mounting protrusion by means of a fixing bolt.

Preferably, the frame is formed with an inserting groove to which a lower end of the central duct is inserted

According to the invention, the left and right side ducts of the integral duct connected to the air conditioning unit are molded to an integral duct and the central duct is coupled to the upper side of the integral duct thereby reducing the number of components for the air duct structure compared with the conventional air duct structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects and features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional air duct structure for a vehicle;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view illustrating side ducts and a central duct of the conventional air duct structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view illustrating the air duct of FIG. 1 coupled to an air conditioning unit;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view illustrating an air duct structure for a vehicle in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a bottom view illustrating the air duct structure of FIG. 5 coupled to an air conditioning unit; and

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of an air duct structure for a vehicle according to one embodiment of the invention, FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the air duct structure of FIG. 5 coupled to an air conditioning unit, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG. 6.

Connection holes 24 are formed on an upper surface of an air conditioning unit 22 which serves to condition air supplied from an outside thereof to a preset temperature, and to supply the conditioned air to the interior of a vehicle through the connection holes 24.

The connection holes 24 are formed to supply air from the air conditioning unit 22 to an air duct structure 20 for the vehicle.

The air duct structure 20 comprises an integral side duct assembly 30 which is tightly installed to the connection holes 24 of the air conditioning unit 22 via a suction part 40 of the integral side duct assembly 30. The integral side duct assembly 30 comprises left and right side ducts 32 and 34 integrally formed at both sides with the suction part 40.

Each of the left and right side ducts 32 and 34 comprises a side discharge opening 36 formed at one end thereof and connected with an associated air vent, and an elongated side connecting pipe 38 between the side discharge opening 36 and an associated side suction port 45 of the suction part 40.

The suction part 40 comprises the side suction ports 45 formed at opposite sides of a lower end of the integral side duct assembly 30 to guide air into the left and right side ducts 32 and 34, respectively, and central suction ports 45 between the side suction ports 45.

The connection holes 24 are partitioned into side connection holes 26 to supply air to the left and right side ducts 32 and 34, respectively, and central connection holes 28 to supply the air to a central duct 50.

In order to form the central suction ports 44 positioned on the central connection holes 20, the suction part 40 comprises a rectangular frame 42, and a partition bar 46 positioned inside the frame 42 while traversing the central region of the frame 42 such that two central suction ports 44 are formed and centered on the partition bar 46.

When viewing from above the suction part 40, the frame 42 and the partition bar 46 define an insertion groove 49 therebetween such that the central duct 50 is easily secured to the integral side duct assembly 30 by inserting a lower end of the central duct 50 into the insertion groove 49.

The suction part 40 has a sealing member 48 of a resilient material mounted around the central suction ports 44 in order to prevent air from leaking through a connecting portion between the integral side duct assembly 30 and the central duct 50 mounted thereon.

In order to secure the central duct 50 to the integral side duct assembly 30, the partition bar 46 has a mounting protrusion 47 formed upwardly therefrom such that the central duct 50 is fixed to the mounting protrusion 47 by means of a fixing bolt 70.

The central duct 50 comprises a central discharge opening 54 formed at one end thereof and a central connecting pipe 52 such that air supplied through the central connecting pipe 52 is supplied to the interior of the vehicle via the central discharge opening 54.

The central connecting pipe 52 of the central duct 50 and the side connecting pipe 38 of the integral side duct assembly 30 are respectively formed with fastening holes 62 at contact portions therebetween, and fastened to each other by fastening bolts.

Operation of the air duct structure for the vehicle according to the invention will now be described.

The integral side duct assembly 30 is formed by integrally molding the left side duct 32 and the right side duct 34 while positioning the suction part 40 comprising the central suction ports 44 and the side suction ports 45 between the left and right side duct 32 and 34.

Since only the suction part 40 is brought into contact with the connecting holes 24 of the air conditioning unit 22, air leakage is related only to tolerances at a portion constituting the suction part 40 so that frequency of defective products is significantly reduced by managing the tolerances of this portion.

With the integral side duct assembly 30 mounted on the air conditioning unit 22, the sealing member 48 made of the resilient material such as rubber or sponge is mounted on the insertion groove 49 of the suction part 40, and the lower end of the central duct 50 is inserted between an outer portion of the sealing member 48 and an inner surface of the frame 42.

The sealing member 48 keeps air-tightness between the suction part 40 of the integral side duct assembly 30 and tie lower end of the central duct 50.

The central duct 50 is mounted to the mounting protrusion 47 of the integral side duct assembly 30 using the fixing bolt 70.

In this embodiment as described above, since the component mounted on the air conditioning unit 22 is a single component, the tolerances of the air duct structure are smaller than that of the conventional air duct structure constituted by several components, thereby remarkably reducing possibility of air leakage through a gap between the air conditioning unit 22 and the air duct structure.

In addition, since the air duct structure 20 of the embodiment is constituted only by two components comprising the integral side duct assembly 30 and the central duct 50, the number of fastening operations is significantly reduced compared with the prior art.

As apparent from the above description, the air duct structure of the invention comprises an integral side duct assembly, and a central duct coupled to the side duct so that the number of molds for these components is significantly reduced together with the number of fastening operations and fastening parts in comparison to the conventional air duct structure comprising separate left and right side ducts and a central duct, thereby enhancing productivity while reducing manufacturing costs.

In addition, since the integral duct coupled to an air conditioning unit is a single component possibility of air leakage through a gap due to tolerances of the components is significantly reduced in comparison to the air duct structure in which separate components are coupled to the air conditioning unit, thereby reducing frequency of defective products.

It should be understood that the embodimnents and the accompanying drawings have been described for illustrative purposes and the present invention is limited by the following claims. Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are allowed without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims. 

1. An air duct structure for a vehicle, comprising: an air conditioning unit to condition air supplied from an outside to a preset temperature and to supply the conditioned air to an interior of the vehicle through connection holes; an integral side duct assembly comprising a suction part tightly installed to the connection holes of the air conditioning unit, and left and right side ducts integrally formed with left and right sides of the suction part; and a central duct tightly installed to an upper side of the suction part to supply the air to a central region of the interior of the vehicle.
 2. The air duct structure according to claim 1, wherein the connection holes are partitioned into side connection holes to supply the air to the left and right side ducts, respectively, and a central connection hole to supply the air to the central duct.
 3. The air duct structure according to claim 1, wherein the suction part is partitioned into side suction ports connected with the left and right side ducts, respectively, and central suction ports perforated between the side suction ports.
 4. The air duct structure according to claim 1, wherein the suction part has a sealing member mounted thereon where the suction part is connected with the central duct, the sealing member being made of a resilient material.
 5. The air duct structure according to claim 3, wherein the suction part comprises a rectangular frame, and a partition bar positioned inside the frame to traverse a central region of the frame such that the central suction ports are formed by the partition bar in the suction part.
 6. The air duct structure according to claim 5, wherein the partition bar has a mounting protrusion formed upwardly therefrom such that the central duct is fixed to the mounting protrusion by means of a fixing bolt.
 7. The air duct structure according to claim 5, wherein the frame is formed with an inserting groove to which a lower end of the central duct is inserted.
 8. The air duct structure according to claim 3, wherein the suction part has a sealing member mounted thereon where the suction part is connected with the central duct, the sealing member being made of a resilient material. 